Everything industry insiders need to know this month at the movies, from newly announced awards to festival lineups, acquisitions and more.

– Kino Lorber announces has acquired North American rights to Bulgarian filmmaker Andrey M. Paounov’s “Walking on Water,” an intimate portrait of renowned installation artist Christo and the intense planning and construction of his 2016 art piece, The Floating Piers. The ambitious yellow dahlia walkway was mounted for 16 days during that summer – a stretched 3km walkway that allowed visitors to safely walk across stretches of Italy’s Lake Iseo to experience the sensation of floating and walking on water. Over 1.2 million people walked on the Floating Piers making it the most visited art event of that year.

The documentary had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and it will have its New York premiere on Saturday, November 10 at DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary film festival, before a national theatrical release in 2019. On Tuesday, November 1, the premiere performance arts organization, Performa, will honor Christo & Jeanne-Claude at their annual gala.

October 24

– Cinema Italian Style announced today the full lineup of films being screened as part of their 14th annual showcase of contemporary Italian cinema which will celebrate Italian actors and filmmakers whose movies will be screened at the 2018 Cinema Italian Style, such as Marcello Fonte, winner of the Palm d’Or – Best Actor in Cannes this year and Valeria Golino, presenting her second movie as director, after a bright career as actress.

Cinema Italian Style 2018, which will open with Italy’s submission to the 2019 Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category, Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman” on November 13, 2018 at the Egyptian Theater as part of AFI FEST presented by Audi18, as previously announced, will continue November 15-18, 2018 at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, CA.

– EXCLUSIVE: The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and SingularDTV announced their strategic partnership to provide financial support to participants in IFP’s various lab programs. The partnership aims to create a unique educational program on how creatives can effectively use blockchain technology to market projects, grow networks, and earn revenue. SingularDTV is building the world’s first blockchain entertainment ecosystem with the creator in mind by helping filmmakers fundraise, develop, and distribute their content.

IFP Labs are designed to ensure that talented, emerging voices receive the support, resources, and industry exposure necessary to complete, market and distribute their projects early in their careers. The four lab intensives focus on narrative and documentary features, episodic content and audio projects, and are produced annually for a select group of visionary creatives.

“The ability to understand and have direct contact with your audience is a crucial part of being able to sustain a career as an independent storyteller,” said Joana Vicente, the Executive Director of IFP, in an official statement. “Blockchain solutions offer an exciting opportunity for creatives to gain control over the full life cycle of their projects, and SingularDTV offers a unique service through its combined understanding of blockchain technology and the independent film marketplace.”

“IFP offers support and programming to the most prolific and inventive creators anywhere,” added Kim Jackson, SingularDTV’s Co-Founder and President of Entertainment. “It’s central to SingularDTV’s mission to consistently provide support and resources to important storytellers and to introduce content creators to how our platform can help propel their careers. The partnership with IFP is a perfect way to build relationships with individuals who will benefit the most from blockchain solutions.”

Through the partnership, SingularDTV will offer grants to 100% of IFP Labs participants in 2019, provide selective support of other IFP-affiliated projects, sponsor 2019 IFP Week, and engage with participants in other IFP programming.

– The Austin Film Society (AFS) announces the participants and mentors for its sixth annual Artist Intensive (October 31 – November 1), a weekend of work, focus, and mentorship for emerging narrative feature filmmakers poised for career leaps. The weekend, which includes screenplay readings and rehearsals with guest actors, has been instrumental in providing artists with creative feedback, resources, and momentum for their projects.

This year’s selected Artist Intensive projects, all at a development phase, include the following:

Lulu Street from Jazmin Diaz

Gospel of the Well from Kelly Daniela Norris and Teresa Pittman-Chavez

Close to You from Jim Hickcox

October 23

– Abramorama has acquired the U.S. theatrical rights to “Family in Transition,” which was produced for the Israeli channel yes Docu, ahead of its international premiere at DOC NYC. The film follows the journey of a husband and father of four children in the traditional and conservative town of Nahariya, Israel, who finally decides to tell his family that he’s a transgender woman. Directed by Ofir Trainin, the film follows a family who, despite personal difficulties and social stigmas, insist on staying together, believing that love will overcome all difficulties. T

he film’s international premiere will be held on Sunday, November 11th at DOC NYC, followed by a theatrical release in Los Angeles on November 16 and in New York on November 23.

October 22

– The BFI London Film Festival announced its winners over the weekend, including “Joy,” “Girl,” “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?,” and “Lasting Marks.” This year’s line-up showcased the enormous depth and diversity of talent working in the global film industry today, with female directors or co-directors making up at least half of the films in Official Competition and Short Film Competition and 60% female directors in the First Feature Competition category.

October 18

– The 7th Annual Key West Film Festival has announced its official 2018 lineup, including films from Alfonso Cuaron and Barry Jenkins. KWFF presents its 4th Annual Critics Focus program, which kicks off with Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” presented by Emily Yoshida, who will be joined in a post-screening discussion by Justin Chang. Florida-born director Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” has been chosen by Chang to close the festival, and he will lead a discussion of the film with Yoshida following the closing-night screening. Both screenings will serve as the Florida premiere of the films.

Director of Programming Michael Tuckman says, “We couldn’t be more excited about this year’s lineup. From having the chance to share Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece on the big screen in all of its grandeur, to serving as a homecoming for Florida’s favorite filmmaking son Barry Jenkins and his intimate and powerful film, to highlighting impactful, thoughtful, entertaining, comedic, dramatic and downright incredible films from countries far and wide to communities in our own backyard, the films of Key West Film Festival 2018 represent our strongest lineup yet.” You can see the full lineup right here.

– IFC Films has acquired U.S rights to “Out of Blue,” written and directed by Carol Morley and starring Patricia Clarkson. Based on a novel by Martin Amis, the had its World Premiere recently at the Toronto International Film Festival. IFC Films is planning a theatrical release in 2019.

– Orion Classics has acquired the North American and Latin American rights to Melissa Miller Costanzo’s drama, “All These Small Moments,” starring Molly Ringwald, Brian d’Arcy James, Brendan Meyer, Sam McCarthy, Harley Quinn Smith, and Jemima Kirke. The film follows “a teenage boy’s infatuation with a woman he sees on the bus further complicates his already tumultuous adolescence.”

Orion Classics will release the coming of age drama in theaters on January 17, 2019 and on VOD and Digital HD on January 18, 2019.

October 17

– RLJE Films has acquired all North American rights to the upcoming the horror/thriller “Monster Party” from writer/director Chris von Hoffmann. The film stars Julian McMahon, Robin Tunney, Sam Strike, Erin Moriarty, Lance Reddick, Brandon Micheal Hall, Virginia Gardner, and Diego Boneta. RLJE Films will release the film nationally in theaters, VOD and Digital HD on November 2, 2018.

The film “follows three thieves who plan a daring heist posing as waiters at a fancy Malibu mansion dinner party in hopes of paying off an urgent debt. When their plan goes horribly wrong, the trio realizes the dinner guests are not as innocent as they seem and their simple cash grab becomes a violent and desperate battle to get out of the house alive.”

“Out of Blue”

IFC Films

October 16

– The Arthur Miller Foundation’s inaugural Arthur Miller Foundation Honors celebrating the power of public school arts education will be hosted by Alec Baldwin. Event Co-Chairs include Rebecca Miller, Steven Spielberg & Kate Capshaw, Sandi Farkas, Janine & Michael Smith. Honors to take place on October 22, at City Winery in New York City.

This year, the foundation will honor HBO Documentary Films with the Arthur Miller Foundation Legacy Award andTony Kushner with the Arthur Miller Foundation Humanitarian Award. The foundation will also recognize one veteran public school teacher who has displayed excellence in theater education with the Arthur Miller Foundation Arts Education Award.

The celebration will raise funds for the Foundation’s theater education programs, featuring notable talent from film, television, and Broadway. This year’s gala will include appearances by Nathan Lane, Edie Falco, Tituss Burgess, Anthony Ramos, Denée Benton, Katrina Lenk, Ari’el Stachel, Solea Pfeiffer, Sherie Rene Scott and Brandon Victor Dixon. The evening will conclude with a musical performance from children impacted by the program.

October 15

– The Museum of Modern Art’s 2018 Film Benefit, presented by CHANEL, will honor Academy Award–winning Director Martin Scorsese on November 19. Winner of the 2006 Best Director Oscar for “The Departed,” Scorsese has also been nominated for the Best Director Academy Award on seven other occasions. The Film Benefit will be highlighted by a gala dinner and a tribute recognizing Scorsese’s acclaimed work.

MoMA will also pay tribute to Scorsese with a series focusing on his New York films, running October 30 – November 7 in the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.

The film is produced by Adam Hendricks, John Lang, and Greg Gilreath from Divide/Conquer, with Jordan Michaud-Scorza, as well as James Dahl from Modern Man FIlms. NEWLY SINGLE had its festival World Premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Festival in late 2017 and it also just played at CPH-PIX Film Festival in September. Gravitas Ventures will release the film this December 7, 2018.

October 12

– The 38th edition of the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) presented by Halekulani has announced this year’s lineup. The festival dates takes place from November 8 – November 18 at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18. The festival will present 187 films from over 35 countries, continuing HIFF’s legacy to advance understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America by presenting films from around the world. Check out the full lineup right here.

“We are thrilled to continue as the longstanding film festival of record for the Pacific and we look toward the future with excitement and new energy in 2018,” said Beckie Stocchetti, HIFF Executive Director, in an official statement. “This year’s festival continues the success of our Made in Hawaii competition, shining a spotlight on Hawaii’s creative entrepreneurs, and includes an incredible line up of groundbreaking work from across Asia and the Pacific Rim, festival favorites from Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto, and a strong focus on indigenous Hawaii and Pacific filmmakers. Evolving with new programs supporting student voices, civic engagement, and a brand new Virtual Reality exhibit, HIFF continues to grow and celebrate the achievements in cinema with breakout stars such as Awkwafina, and legendary filmmakers such as Wong Kar Wai.”

October 11

– The Intercept, ScreeningRoom, and the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival have announced a new grant for a short investigative documentary. The selected filmmaker will receive $5,000 towards the creation of a short, investigative documentary, a one year ScreeningRoom Pro account, and in-kind equipment rental, and mentoring. The filmmaker will also have the potential for publication of the completed work on The Intercept, and to screen their short film at the Double Exposure Investigative Film Festival (DX) in 2019.

“If Beale Street Could Talk”

Annapurna

“The Intercept is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking investigative work, which is more important than ever these days,” said Lauren Feeney, Director of Video Production at The Intercept, in an official statement. “We are looking for subject matter that is investigative and visually compelling. Topics of interest include civil liberties, national security, immigration, environment, politics and human rights.”

Any filmmaker or video journalist is welcome to apply, and submissions will be open from October 10, 2018 to December 1, 2018. There is no fee for submission, but filmmakers will need a ScreeningRoom Basic, Premium, or Pro account. Representatives from The Intercept, ScreeningRoom, and DX will review the submissions and make a final decision in February 2019.

– Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Christoph Waltz will be a special guest at the upcoming 2018 Virginia Film Festival. The Festival also announced program additions including “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “At Eternity’s Gate.” The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts. The 2018 Festival will take place from November 1-4 in Charlottesville and will include more than 150 films and over 100 industry guests from around the world.

October 10

– GKIDS has acquired North American distribution rights for Studio Ponoc’s animated anthology “Modest Heroes: Ponoc Short Films Theatre, Volume 1.” The feature-length collection of short films is the latest project from Studio Ponoc, the new Japanese animation studio founded by two-time Academy Award-nominee Yoshiaki Nishimura. GKIDS will release the film theatrically in January 2019 (specific date TBD) in both subtitled and English versions, following its upcoming U.S. premiere at the Animation is Film festival in Los Angeles later this month.

– Tribeca and CHANEL continue to provide extraordinary opportunities to propel women filmmakers forward with the fourth annual THROUGH HER LENS: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program. The mentorship program was created to provide a balance of industry support, artistic development, and funding for new and emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films.

From October 16-18, the filmmakers will gather in New York City with the mentor and program advisors for an in-depth intimate program concentrating on script-to-screen development, casting, finding collaborators, and working with cinematographers, music composers, costume designers, and producers. The selected program participants will attend master classes and have individual mentoring sessions with leading women in filmmaking, meet distributors, and spend concentrated time refining their pitching skills. During the summer, each filmmaker was given the opportunity to work with writing mentors to shape and refine her project.

The selected projects and filmmakers are:

H-E-A-T-H-E-R: Heather, a young, racially ambiguous artist, confronts questions of identity when she becomes a part-time babysitter for 11-year-old Jayda. Their dynamic prompts Heather to explore the limitations of her persona as she voyages into other realms of her imagination through fantasy, alternate realities, and moving collages.

LIFE ON sMARS: Six aspiring astronauts are sealed inside a solar-powered dome, attempting to simulate life on Mars. When Dana’s helmet malfunctions on the first spacewalk — depriving her of precious oxygen — she and her teammates have a critical decision to make.

Laramie Dennis (Writer, Director), Jenna Cedicci (Producer)

ROSA: While working at her aunt’s flower shop, Rosa takes her job underground when she begins a side business of shipping undocumented bodies to their home countries for burial.

Suha Araj (Writer, Director), Maryam Keshavarz (Producer)

EL TIMBRE DE SU VOZ: Yaneris, a Dominican teenager, plots a way to escape her hometown of Sosúa, where becoming an escort seems to be her only fate. After unexpectedly falling in love with her client’s son, she decides he may be the ticket to a new life — for both her and her disabled sister.

Gabriella Moses (Writer, Director), Shruti Ganguly (Producer)

WHAT IS YOUR SOUL PURPOSE?: A sheltered Korean American family travels to Atlanta to retrieve the body of their son after he passes away from an accidental overdose. In the depths of their grief, they find an unlikely connection and momentary solace with the African American family who owns the mortuary.

Jennifer Cho Suhr (Writer/Director), Carolyn Mao (Producer)

– Kino Lorber has announced that it has acquired North American rights for ten newly restored classics from the Hungarian National Film Fund- Film Archive.These include 4k restorations of Cannes and Academy-Award winning films by Hungarian masters Ildikó Enyedi, Miklós Jancsó, and István Szabó.The deal was negotiated by Kino Lorber’s CEO Richard Lorber with Sr. Vice President Wendy Lidell and Hungarian National Film Archive Director György Ráduly.

October 9

– The Hamptons International Film Festival today announced their audience awards for the 26th edition from East Hampton. “The Hate U Give,” directed by George Tillman Jr., took home the Audience Award for Narrative Feature. “The Biggest Little Farm,” directed by John Chester, took home the Audience Award for Documentary Feature. “One Small Step,” directed by Bobby Pontillas & Andrew Chesworth, won the Audience Award for Best Short Film. All of the Audience Awards are sponsored by Out East.

“Destroyer”

– The American Film Institute (AFI) announced that AFI FEST 2018 presented by Audi will host An Evening With Nicole Kidman. The event will include a conversation with the Academy Award-winning actor in tribute to her illustrious career, followed by a Gala screening of her latest film, Annapurna Pictures’ “Destroyer” on Tuesday, November 13, at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre.

“Nicole Kidman is a fearless actor,” said Michael Lumpkin, Director, AFI Festivals in an official statement. “In ‘Destroyer,’ she plunges headlong into the depths of her character’s soul, and it’s that total immersion onscreen that has come to define her fiercely intelligent body of work. We are honored to spotlight her tremendous career.”

– Shout! Studios has acquired all North American distribution rights to “Then Came You,” including theatrical, video-on-demand, digital, broadcast, and home entertainment for cross-platform releases in the U.S. and Canada. Shout! Studios plans a strategic rollout of this movie across multiple entertainment platforms, beginning with a theatrical launch early next year.

The film is billed as “a sweet, uplifting tale that reminds us it’s not how long we live, but how we live the life we have, that matters. The film tells the story of Skye (Maisie Williams), a spunky teenager with a terminal illness who befriends Calvin (Asa Butterfield), a 19-year old hypochondriac who is afraid of his own shadow. Calvin helps Skye carry out her eccentric bucket list of things to do before she dies. In the process, he learns to confront and conquer his own fears, including falling in love with the beautiful, but seemingly untouchable, Izzy (Nina Dobrev).”

– Orion Classics has acquired all North American and Latin American rights to Matthew Brown’s “Maine,” starring Laia Costa and Thomas Mann. The film had its World Premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for Best Narrative Feature. Orion Classics will release the film in theaters on December 13, 2018 and on VOD and Digital HD on December 14, 2018.

“Free Solo”

Nat Geo

– The International Documentary Association (IDA) has unveiled the shortlists in the Shorts and Features categories for their annual IDA Documentary Awards. The 34th edition of the ceremony will take place Saturday, December 8, 2018 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. Nominees for all categories as well as Special Awards and Creative Recognition Awards will be announced on October 24.